Knitting-machine needle



(No Model.)

G. E. PHILBRICK.

KNITTING MACHINE NEEDLE. No. 589,024. Patentd Aug. 31,1897.

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T l/i'inesses: Invewl'or:

George Elhilbn'ch,

together.

UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE E. PHILBRIOK, or MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

KNITTING-MACHINE NEEDLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 589,024, dated August31, 1897.

Application filed March 11, 1897.

To aZZ whom it-may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE E. PHILBRICK,

of Manchester, county of I-Iillsborough, State of New Hampshire, haveinvented an Improvement in Knitting-Machine Needles, of which thefollowing description in connection with the accompanying drawings, is aspecification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts. Thenibs of knitting-machine needles are now commonly made by bending aportion of the wire of which the body of the needle is composed at rightangles to the body, thus leaving a loop in the needle to constitute thenib. In use these needles are subjected to very considerable strain, andthey frequently break at the nib or the nib separates to the detrimentof the needle. Many plans have been devised to strengthen the needle atthe nib, among which may be named soldering and brazing the two parallelparts of the nib I have devised a novel method of producing a strongnib. In accordance with my invention I form the nib in usual manner, andI then give to the nib a half-turn, and thereafter I flatten the nib,which sets the half-turn so that it cannot thereafter be separated inuse.

Figures 1 and 2 show two views of a needle embodying my invention; Figs.3 and 4, two otherviews of a slight modification. Figs. 5

and 6 show two views of a common form of needle, and Fig. '7 shows partof a nib as now commonly made.

In the manufacture of knitting-machine needles at the proper stage ofthe operation a part of the wire composing the body of the needle a isbent into loop form, as at b, Fig. 7, and in use the needle frequentlybreaks in the sharp bend of the nib. To prevent this loss of needles bybreaking, the two arms of the nib have been brazed or soldered, and soalso a band, as c, has been put about the nib.

In accordance with my invention I proceed as in the manufacture of theordinary needle, but after the nib is bent and formed as in Serial No.626,947. (No model.)

Fig. 7 I take hold of the nib with a suitable tool, and while the bodyof'the needle and its tailpiece a are suitably held I turn the nibhalf-way around, thus crossing the arms and making my improved nib e asin Figs. 1 and 3. After this the body of the needle and the nib areflattened, and in doing so one arm of the nib enters the other arm, thusinterlocking one with the other, thereby preventing any possibility ofthe nib separating under any strain to which the needle may be subjectedin knitting.

A needle with a cross-nib will not break at the nib.

In Figs. 1 and 2 I have shown but part of the nib as flattened duringthe operation of flattening the body of the needle, thereby leaving ashoulder e, such shoulder taking the place of the band 0 in Fig. 5 andenabling the needle so made to be used in what is known as the Mayomachine, wherein the said band,besides its function of strengthening thenib, also acts as a guide for the needle to keep it in proper workingposition. This nib may, however, and in most instances will be flattenedthroughout, as in Figs. 3 and 4. The latch f may be of any usual form.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secureby Letters- Patent, is-- I l. A knitting-machine needle having a crossednib, substantially as described.

2. A knitting-machine needle having a crossed and flattened nib,substantially as described.

3. A knittingmachine needle having a crossed and flattened nib andprovided with a shoulder e, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the.presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEORGE E. PHILBRIOK.

\ Vitnesses:

EDWARD S. GRAYE, WILLIAM G. BURTAN.

